Monday, January 25, 2010

2009 has been a special year for me. Work's been great, friends, family, and more wonderful people have become an important part of my life. And I was fortunate enough to launch Cakes by Ji. Thanks everybody for your support!

Awhile back, I read an article in Bon Appetit magazine on homemade marshmallows. The author, Molly says in this article that "Homemade marshmallows are impossibly delicious -- and making them for someone special could possibly change your life". I had never been a huge fan of marshmallow (except for in S'more and cereal treats) because of its styrofoamy, dry texture. But after reading this intriguing article, I absolutely had to try making marshmallows myself. I had been procrastinating, busy baking cakes instead, but this holiday season was the perfect opportunity to give it a shot -- thanking those special people around me with homemade marshmallows!

So I decided to make marshmallows with toasted coconut for some crunch and cookies with fruit fillings and homemade dulce de leche for something extra.

Making marshmallow was just like how Molly describes in her article. I ended up with sticky white clumps in my hair, my shirt, on the kitchen counter and all over the mixer. And she was even more spot on with what homemade marshmallows taste like -- absolutely delicious. They were nothing like the store bought ones and now I'm officially in love with marshmallows.

For the cookies, homemade dulce de leche, which turned out to be a lot easier to make than I had anticipated, was sandwiched between two sugar cookies. Sticky luscious dulce de leche oozing out on the side made these cookies wonderfully mouthwatering. To satiate the fruity, tangy craving, some cookies were filled with apricot, bluebeery, and raspberry jam.

4 comments:

the dulce de leche and jam cookies were DELICIOUS. i wanted to keep them all to myself but when i shared a couple with my cubemates everyone wanted to steal them! so so good -- everyone asked where i bought such perfectly made and delicious cookies! thanks ji!